App Linked to Stabbing Death of 13-Year-Old Virginia Girl Also Linked to Dozens of Unrelated Child Sex Crimes, According to News Reports Summarized by SaferKid, LLC

KIHEI, Hawaii–(BUSINESS WIRE)–The tragic stabbing of 13-year-old Nicole Lovell is the latest in a
series of child sexual assaults, abductions and other child sex crimes
that have been reportedly linked to Kik Messenger, according to this
summary of various local news reports over the last year.

“The mechanics of how people interact on Kik makes it a very big concern
because of both the anonymous nature of Kik and also because it has
embedded apps inside for meeting strangers,” said Cheyenne Ehrlich,
founder and CEO of SaferKid, LLC. “However, there are easy things
parents can do to keep their kids safe.”

SaferKid’s alert service, for example, notifies parents when children
install any of thousands of apps that are designed to let people meet
strangers nearby. This allows parents to step in and intervene before
their children even make friends on these apps, nipping the problem in
the bud.

“We got the idea after talking to various Internet Crimes Against
Children (ICAC) Task Force personnel and realizing that there are
thousands of apps that parents have to worry about,” continued Ehrlich.
“No parent can do this on their own. And the issue is not a small one.
We’re in a national crisis of child sex crimes due to mobile devices.”

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children operates the
CyberTipline where suspected online child sexual exploitation is
reported. There were 500,000 cases reported between 1998 and 2007. In
2014 alone, there were 1.1 million.

“Our informal surveys of regional ICAC Task Force personnel leads us to
believe that this more than doubled in 2015,” concluded Ehrlich.
“Parents who think they can just delete Kik don’t understand the
problem. Daily monitoring for thousands of apps is the only way to
protect your children.”

About SaferKid, LLC

SaferKid, LLC, is a technology company with the mission of eradicating
child endangerment. The company’s first product, SaferKid, notifies
parents if their child or teen installs any of more than 200,000 apps of
concern. SaferKid works on iPhones, iPods and iPads. An Android version
is currently in development. The company is headquartered in Kihei,
Hawaii.